How You Play Politics In Prince George
The election of a new board of directors by the Cariboo-Prince George Conservative Riding Association was very reminiscent of what took place when the DBIA in Prince George was taken over by a group of people headed by then Citizen Publisher , Hugh Nicholson and Dan McLaren.
McLaren had assembled a group that brought its own bunch to the annual general meeting. That allowed the group to elect it's own people to the directorship and executive. Interestingly, the DBIA group brought with them a list of people that they needed to vote for in order to support " their picked slate". It worked and they went on to try and cobble together a redevelopment plan for the downtown area.
Last Saturday, here in Prince George, the annual general meeting of the Cariboo-Prince George Conservative Riding Association was held to elect a new slate of directors, the people that will affectively control the grass roots of the constituency.
Why in the world you would have an annual general meeting on a long weekend is suspect.
Never the less, the participants arrived the majority carrying a little blue book which outlined who should get the votes to be a director. One staunch Tory who was in attendence says most of the faces were not familiar " 99% of them I had never seen before". What he did not know is that, included in the bunch there to vote were people who had been on the DBIA board, like Carla Johnston, and Don Kehler.
In this instance also elected to the board was Shari Green, who is considered by many to have been the least impressive mayor the city has had in recent memory.
Her name was attached to the list along with a number of persons who have either been connected to her last campaign, sat on the DBIA, or have (or had) a connection to the Commonwealth Groups of companies.
In this case it is all about selling memberships to the party. Controlling the board of directors is a good place to start. If you can get enough memberships sold to people who support you, then you pretty much have the nomination in the bag.
The new President of the Riding Association is Cameron Stolz. He isn't viewed as the poster child for the City Council of Prince George by many voters after he failed to pay his property taxes while sitting on the Finance and Audit Committee. He is unlikely to bring any strong support to the party given his past. His failure to step down from Finance and Audit will not improve the fortunes of the riding. He does know how the system works after all, he got stomped on by the Prince George- Peace River delegates, who sent him packing in a big way when he tried to get the nomination in that riding. It was eventually won by Bob Zimmer.
The final call however could come from the sitting MP Dick Harris. He has yet to announce he is retiring, and should he decide to quit politics , he can pick the time when he will pull the plug.` Of course you have to consider that the new group might like to call a nomination convention as quickly as possible to get Green the nomination, but they won't be able to do that if we already have a sitting MP and until the writ is dropped , he will remain that way.
Another issue that should be addressed, and no doubt will in the coming weeks, will be the matter of Vanderhoof, Williams Lake and Quesnel, which are all part of the riding. When those folks who support the Conservatives suddenly discover that they were blindsided in the vote for a new set of Directors they will not be sitting around on their hands. At least one delegate from out of town, came to Prince George last week to attend the vote, but upon seeing what was taking place, withdrew his name.
The group that got Green elected as Mayor will find that if they want to play at federal politics, they had better put on their big boy pants.
It will be all about selling memberships, and when that is completed there is another little hurdle to overcome and that is the matter of an election. That will be when the people of the region decide, in spite of the fact that they are Conservative, they will not vote for Green if she gets the nomination. That in itself could trigger a look see by Stephen Harper, who gets the final say on who is approved to be a candidate and a chance to get to go to Ottawa.
Suffice to say that if Green gets the nod, given the mood of the voters in this city, a lot of Conservatives who have voted for their party in the past, may well switch their vote as a matter of protest.
Hijacking the vote for Directors at the annual general meeting of the Constituency didn't help either Green who leaves civic politics with a poor image , or the Conservative cause.
I'm Meisner, and that's one man's opinion.
Comments
Well said but harper can try and force Dick to step aside if e is not running and do it early been done before. However Dick no real friend of Harper could also tell him to shove off… could be interesting
When people decide they need to play games like this in order to win, they are admitting that they are not the best person to serve. They are saying that they need to stack the deck in order to win and if the playing field were level, they would not have a chance.
If they are already admitting this, then why would we elect them?
I am a Conservative! I will NOT vote for Green! Is there an alternative? Perhaps.
If Green becomes the candidate, would it be that wrong to support an Independent with demonstrated leaning to Conservative thinking?
So many opinions from someone who was not even present at the meeting last week. An explanation of the timing of the meeting was given by the President of the association at the start of the meeting and the date was set well in advance.
As for people withdrawing their names, that did not happen either.
There are people that have announced their intention run for the Cariboo-Prince George riding and no comments about these guys. These people were even brash enough work to get support of the folks at the meeting and hand out cards. No mention of these two.
I truly believe these are your opinions Ben but like Disney you are writing history to serve your purpose not to share facts.
Nicholson backed Rogers then backed Green, then went to Nanaimo and made a huge mess in that town. Lesson learned?
Suddenly a huge Dick Harris fan.
I’ve heard it said in the past that Conservative voters in the PG-Cariboo riding would vote for a corpse as the nominee, as long as it was Conservative. If Shari gets the nomination, perhaps the apathetic voters might start thinking twice about who they should be voting for.
Exactly Icicle! 100% agreed.
Sherri Green serves only her personal agenda.
I think we should all join the conservatives just so we can stack the vote against her.
Thank you Ben for your monitoring of the Green Team in their next big tactical play. I think new2pg has a good point. Where do I sign up?
Thank you Ben for the information , I am sure that Princess Green must have a gag order on the PG Citizen , as they print so little on the real facts that we the tax payers need to know about . You and your staff do a wonderful job , keep up the good work .
Anyone who would vote for green after her dismal time as mayor should seek medical help
I would like to see someone, not currently on Council seek the Mayor’s position.
Where are you – Don and Colin, and others?
And who said politics aren’t corrupt! It makes you wonder how all the rest got to where they are.
Wow the hubris of these people.
Well done Ben and please do not stop!!! Shari Green’s true colours should be made visible.
If she does win the nomination you can rest assured that this riding will no longer be CONSERVATIVE.
I would also like to know who paid for her visits to Quesnel and Williams Lake so that she could rub shoulders with people???
Here’s the thing. The next federal election is going to be VERY tight. It could be a Conservative majority, a Conservative minority, a Liberal majority or a Liberal minority. It’s really too close to call and either of those are definite possibilities.
Everyone in Ottawa believes this and I think the Conservatives will do everything they can to ensure that their “safe” ridings stay Conservative. That would include Cariboo-Prince George. In this next election, Harper simply cannot afford to lose any of those “safe” ridings, because they could swing the entire thing. Those base seats have to be protected at all costs because odds are very good that the Conservatives are going to lose seats in other ridings across the country.
If the Liberals are smart (and I fully expect that they will be), they will have a few people with name recognition in mind that could go head to head against Green and provide voters with a very legitimate alternative. Would Conservative supporters ever vote Liberal? It’s hard to imagine that in this riding, BUT I could see a vote split coming into play whereby the anti-Green folks vote in some other direction, which would allow the Liberal candidate to get in.
I know this riding is about as solid as it gets when it comes to Conservative support, but if I were the Conservatives, I would want to get my brand as far away from Green in the Cariboo-Prince George riding as I possibly could. IMHO, there is absolutely nothing for them to gain by having her as the delegate and potentially much to lose.
When you do the analysis, I think their safe bet is to find someone with no history, no potential baggage and no potential risk. If they do that, they can score +1 in the seat column for Cariboo-Prince George and not have to worry about it heading into the election.
There is no reason whatsoever for this riding to be a distraction for the Conservatives. So, I predict it will come down to the local folks vs. the mothership and the latter is much more powerful.
Green and her cohorts seem to enjoy doing their work behind closed doors and stacking the deck. We have had examples of this with Haldi Road, and Pine Valley Golf Course.
These people are still working behind the scenes to get the results they want Being upfront and honest with voters is not their number one priority.
Sherri will have her work cut out for her to get elected if she gets the nomination,.
Well said Ben; once again; you hit the nail right on the head.
I was at that meeting and it is not quite as described in the article.
I am not a Shari Green supporter. However, when it came to the nominations, Ms Green waiting a reasonable amount of time, and then nominated Stolz. The call for other nominations was made by the MC, then the proper 3 calls for other nominations, then acclamation was declared.
Same thing with the other 2 positions.
The point is that not one other person that had submitted their name for nomination was nominated. on top of that there was a call for ANY of those individuals to nominate them-self, and not one did.
Maybe it was a back room conspiracy, but that is not what I saw. What I saw was a room full of charter members with no one willing to step up to the plate.
We got what we got through apathy, cowardice, causing the acclamation.
Posted by nuffsnuff at 10:06.”where are you Don and Colin”. Who do you think was behind the election of Shari Green???? Colin of course!
I just can’t understand how such a weak candidate, for councillor, mayor and now potentially an MP candidate musters business support. She is immensely unpopular and has no real success in the community to stand behind.
As for who will the riding vote for – well for several elections it was NDP for Brian Gardner. It doesn’t have to continue to be in play for the Conservatives if the other parties run a strong candidate or there is a strong independent out there, it could be a game changer. Time for a palace revolt.
Perhaps the conservative party members here should all write to Stephen Harper and warn him of no support for Shari Green. I’m sure that if he is concerned, he would do something about it.
To 4seasons: I am sure you are correct with Colin supporting Green – do you suppose he would still back her with that wonderful acquired unpopularity?
I am beginning to think that, if by some magic she is successful in securing the Conservative nomination, that the riding could go Liberal – because, I will not vote for her!!! But then I am only one vote but I feel others have the same thought.
The next twelve months should be interesting – look around you people, we need a Mayor we can respect as well as an MP that we can communicate with. Oh yes, we need at least a half dozen new City Councillors.
I would join the Conservatives to vote against Green. If she got the nomination I would vote against her in an election – most likely by simply not voting.
Shari Green is the worst mayor that PG has ever had. Good riddens to her!!! I wonder if Cameron Stolz will pay his PG property taxes this year!!! I have paid mine on time since moving into the city in 1989. What a bunch of losers!!
The November, municipal election is going to be an interesting one. Lynn Hall for mayor anyone?
Dear Sherry Greene, (she hates her name spelled incorrectly)
On behalf of the majority of Prince George residents I would like to address your political aspirations.
You were a terrible mayor with a bad attitude. The last thing we want is for you to represent OUR constituency as an MP. Please end your political career with some grace (finally) and retire. The last thing we need is the embarrassment of you trying to play politics in Ottawa. Hopefully Stephen Harper is smart enough to see through your sad political career and will save us all this hassle.
Sincerely,
Sick of Greene in pg
So is green truly despised by the citizens of PG or just the citizens of this site? I am not a fan of hers. Didn’t and wouldn’t vote for her, but this is a very partisan crowd when it comes to anything green.
I’m voting for the guy who pushes his bike full of stuff all over town. At least he shows determination.
From what I could find it’s $15 for a year long membership of the Conservative Party. Cheap insurance if enough people join to vote against Green. Somebody please correct me if I’m wrong.
In response to huh^^
Do you somehow think that everyone negative towards scary Shary greenie gravitates somehow towards this particular site?
That is silly. The woman seems universally disliked with the exception of a few people who seem to like the thought of having a little greenie in their back pocket if need be.
Ps. FYI.
When someone declares themselves;
“Not a green supporter”
Assume the opposite.
Isn’t this typical of how politics is played in the conservative camp everywhere? IMHO
Hartly – Sadly, it’s typical of how politics is played everywhere.
We don’t have conservatives anymore. We don’t even have true capitalists anymore.
What we do have corporatists. There is a monumental difference.
Prince George had 28% of the eligible voters turn out in the last municipal election.
This is why… its like a self feeding loop… insiders fixing the nomination process behind closed doors, fuels lower voter turn out, enables an easier fix for those fixing the nomination process… and so on it goes…. until someone struts in with the audacity of representing a constituency that is not represented and gives them someone to vote for and a place for their vote.
This city and this region badly needs someone to vote for, so that we can see participation numbers that lend legitimacy to the elected.
Time Will Tell
“When someone declares themselves;
“Not a green supporter”
Assume the opposite.” .. Well, all I can say is you are so wrong with this assumption. Why would I say what I didn’t mean if this is anonymous. But the bottom line is, those who are suspicious of everyone and everything will draw their own conclusions. Sure must make for a small world you live in.
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